Labeling-machine.



No. 804,168. PATENTED NOV. '7; 1905.

' C. OTTING.

LABELING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 12, 1903.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

No. 804,168. 'PATENTED NOV. 7, 1905,

' c. OTTING.

LABELING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED NOV.12, 1903.

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PATENTED NOV. 7, 1905.

3 SHEETS-SHBET 3 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LABELING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented NOV. 7, 1905.

Application filed November 12, 1903. Serial No. 180,895.

To all whom it may concern: 1

Be it known that'I, CARL OTTING, a citizen of the German Empire,residing at Ludwigsburg, in the Kingdom of Wiirtemberg. Germany, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Labeling-Machines, ofwhich the following is adescription, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings and to the figures of reference marked thereon.

This invention relates to improvements in machines of that classemployed for attaching .labels to various objects, such as cardboardboxes and the like, and has for its principal object to provide amechanism wherein labels are fed automatically from a reservoir orcontainer and are supplied with an adhesive material, after which theyare pressed into con- .tact with the box or other article to which theyare to be attached.

A further object of the invention is to pro-' vide a device of thischaracter in which provision is made for the automatic feeding of singlelabels from a quantity which have been supplied to the reservoir orcontainer, the operation of the machine continuing without regard to thequantity supplied or to the gradual reducing quantity resulting from theoperation of the machine.

A further object of the invention is to pro-' vide a label-attachingmachine in which labels of greater superficial area than that of theface of the box to which they are to be attached may be gummed andapplied in such manner that they will adhere to the face and to theopposite sides of the box and in this manner serve as a sealing meanswhere filled boxes are placed in the machine in readiness to be labeled.

With these and other objects in view, as will hereinafter more fullyappear, the invention consists in the novel construction'and arrangementof parts hereinafter described, illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, andv tion of one of the label-conveying cylinders detachedfrom the machine. Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view of the same. anelevation of the label-conveying cylinder looking from a position at aright angle to that in which the cylinder is shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 6 isa detail perspective View of the labelfeeding bar detached.

Similar numerals of reference are employed to indicate correspondingparts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

The machine forming the subject of the present invention, while capableof application.to mechanisms of many different types, is intendedespecially for the labeling of filled Fig. 5 is or unfilled boxes, thesebeing placed in a suitable reservoir and fed one by one to the machine,while labels previously supplied to the reservoir or container are fedone by one and after being gummedare pressed into contact with theboxes.

The various working parts of the machine are supported on a suitableframework 1, which is provided at one end with a reservoir or magazine2, formed in the present instance of a plurality of vertically-disposedparallel bars flared at their upper ends to permit the convenientintroduction of the boxes-3, and a number of these bars are shorter thanthe others in order to provide an outlet or dischargeopening at thelower end of the magazine.

At the opposite ends of the frame are bearings for the support ofparallel shafts carrying sprocket-wheels 4, over which runs a link belt5, forming an endless conveyer, and the belt is provided with projectingfingers 6, which engage with the successive lowermost boxes 3 and forcethem from the reservoir to the label-attaching devices, the finishedboxes being discharged from the conveyer to a suitable receptacle or toanother conveying mechanism.

At a point somewhat above the upper run of the conveyer-belt is areservoir or magazine for the reception of the labels 7, which are to beattached to the boxes, and to the baseplate of the magazine are secureda plurality of side arms 8, which are adjustable in accordance with thesize of the labels, the side arms being secured in adjusted position bymeans of set-screws 9.

The labels are fed one IIO ing employed to remove the surplus adhesive,

and this roller receives motion through the medium of a beltfrom apulley on the shaft 16.

The label-feeder is in the form of a rectangular bar 18, having roundedstuds projecting from its opposite ends and extending through the slotsof the standards 17. To each end of the feeder-bar is secured a squareplate 19 and a four-toothed ratchet 20, similar to that employed injacquards. The standards serve as supports for projecting plates 24,which engage one of the angular sides of the plates 19 when thefeeder-bar is raised in order to prevent turning movement of thefeeder-bar and to hold one of its angular faces in position to receivethe adhesive from the roller 15. At the opposite ends of the shaft 16are secured crank-arms 22, to which are connected rods 21, the lowerends of which are slotted, and through these slots extend the roundedopposite end of the feeder-rods 18. Each of the connecting-bars isprovided with a springpressed pawl 23, adapted to engage one of theratchet-wheels 20, and the construction is such that when the parts arein the lowermost position the upward movement of the connecting-rod, dueto the revoluble movement of the crank-arm 22 in the direction indicatedby the arrow, will cause a partial revolution of the feeder-bar 18 to anextent of ninety degrees and thereafter, during the continuance of theupward movement the 7 bar, will be held from moving by the plates theprevious movement will be forced into contact with the paper. The secondsurface of the bar 18 will then receive adhesive; but feeding movementof the labels will not be accomplished until that surface of thefeedingbar to which the adhesive was first applied has been turned tothe extent of one hundred and eighty degrees, the adhesive face thenbeing to the left of Fig. 1 and the label attached thereto is beingraised in a vertical plane.

The label is raised and at the completion of the upstroke of thefeeder-'baris received by suitable grippers in the uppermost of a seriesof conveyer-cylinders and thence is moved 'pastan adhesiveapplyingroller and forced into contact with the box to which it is to beattached.

In the present instance the machine is provided with three separateconveying rollers or cylinders 25, having a curved or segmental surfaceof an area equal to or greater than the superficial area of the label.These cylinders are mounted on shafts 45, and at the opposite ends ofeach cylinder are bearings for the support of a gripper-shaft 27,carrying, preferably, rectangular blocks to which are secured grippers26, adapted to engage with the edges of the labels in a manner somewhatsimilar to that in which the grippers of cylinder-feeding presses gripthe sheets of paper to be printed. At the opposite ends or at one endonly of each shaft 27 is an arm 28, carrying at its outer end anantifriction-roller 29 for engagement with cams 30, that are rigidlysecured to the frame of the machine, as indicated by dotted lines inFig. 1. The position of these cams and their construction are such thatat the completion of the upward movement of the feeder-bar the grippers26 of the uppermost cylinder will be open and the label fed upward bythe feeder-bar will be forced by the upper cylinder 13 into a positionbeneath the grippers, and after the antifriction-rollers 29 pass thecams30 the gripper-bars will be closed by the springs 46 and will engagewith and hold the edge of the la-.

bel to the surface of the cylinder.

Below the cylinder 25, which receives the labels from the feeder-bar, isan intermediate cylinder of similar construction, and below this is alabel-attaching cylinder adjacent to the upper surface of the box towhich the labels are to be applied, and all of the cylinders are in suchrelation and their cams are so timed that when the grippers of theuppermost cylinderrelease thelabel it will be caught by the intermediatecylinder and thence fed to the lowermost cylinder and by'the latterforced into contact with the upper surface of the box, the drivingmechanism being so timed that a box will be fed to proper position toreceive the label. In this connection it is to be observed that theshaft 41, which is the main driving-shaft of the machine, is providedwith a gear intermeshing with an intermediate gear 42, which transmitsmotion to the gear 43, and this in turn meshes with a gear on the shaftwhich drives one of the sprocketwheels 4. The gear 42 is likewiseconnected to a train of gearing which extends from cylinder to cylinderto the uppermost shaft 16, this form of gearing being shown partly indiagrammatic form, inasmuch as it forms no part of the presentinvention.

The main frame of the machine is provided with bearings for thereception of a shaft on which is mounted a gear 34, receiving motionfrom the gear of the intermediate cylinder 25, and this gear intermesheswith a gear-wheel on the shaft of an adhesive-applying roller 33.

The adhesive-applying roller 33 is mounted in suitable bearings androtates within a tank 32, containing a suitable quantity of adhesivematerial, a doctor or scraper being employed to remove surplus materialfrom the periphery of the roll. The roll 33 is engaged at predeterminedintervals by an adhesive-applying roller 36, mounted on one arm of'abellcrank lever 35, pivoted to the frameat its point ofbifurcation, andthe opposite arm of said bell-crank lever carries an antifrictionroller38, bearing on a cam 37 on the shaft of the lowermostconveying-cylinder, the cam being so timed that when a label is inposition on the lowermost cylinder to receive paste the roller 36 willmove into engagement with such label and provide it with the necessarycoating, while during the remainder of the time the roller 36 is kept incontact with the main adhesive-applying roller 36. The cam 37 acts onlyin one direction, serving to force the roller 36 into engagement withthe roller 33, and movement in the reverse direction is accomplished bymeans of a tension-spring 39.

The parts are so timed that when a box is in proper position a labelpreviously supplied with the adhesive material will be forced intoengagement with the upper surface of the box and will be fed onby meansof the conveyer-belt to a position between-a pairof brushes 40. Thebrushes 40 are mounted on suitable disks carried by a shaft which isprovided at one end with a pulley receiving motion through theintermediary of a belt 44, and the bristles of the brush project towardeach other in a direction transverse of the machine, so that they mayengage with the opposite edges of the label, the latter being of greaterwidth than the box to which it is to be applied, and the edges of thelabel will be press ed down gradually into engagement with the sides ofthe box, and the movement is such that the brushes will exercise aslight spreading or stretching tendency and serve to' hold the label ina perfectly flat position. These brushes rotate in the directionindicated by the arrow in Fig. 1 and press the label,

firmly in place against the sides of the box.

\Vith a device of this character it is possible to rapidly apply labelsof any desired size to boxes or other articles of any character whichmay be received within the magazine 2, and the operation is entirelyautomatic in its character and is not dependent on the quantity oflabels supplied to the machine; nor is its work in any manner interferedwith by the gradually-reducing quantity of labels in thelabel-containing magazine.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is 1. In alabel-attaching machine, a manysided pick-up feeder-bar, means forsuccessively applying adhesive material to the sides thereof, and meansfor revolving said bar.

2. In label-attaching machines, a polygonal pick-up feeder-bar, meansfor successively applying adhesive material to the sides thereof, meansfor turning the bar, and means for moving the bar between a label-supplyand the adhesive-applying means.

3. In a label-attaching machine, a pick-up bar of rectangular form incross-section, means for successively applying adhesive material to thesides thereof, a label-magazine, a means for moving the bar between themagazine and the adhesive-applying means, and a means for impartingintermittent rotative movement to the feeder-bar.

4:. In a label-attaching machine, a pick-up feeder-bar, means forapplying an adhesive thereto, guides for the feeder-bar, slottedcarriers for said feeder-bar, and means supported by the carriers foreffecting intermittent rotative movement of the bar.

5. In a label-attaching machine, a rectangular feeder-bar, anadhesive-applying means, a label-magazine, slotted guides for the bar,slotted actuatingdevices for said bar, ratchets carried by the bar, andpawls supported by said actuating devices for engaging the ratchets.

6. In a label-attaching machine, a label-container, a rectangularfeeder-bar, slotted standards for guiding the bar, an adhesive-applyingroll, a shaft, crank-arms carried thereby, slotted connecting-rods forraising and lowering the feeder-bar, pawls carried by theconnecting-rods, and ratchet-wheels connected to the feeder-bar andengageable by said pawls.

7. In a label-attaching machine, a reciprocated feeder bar, a pluralityof cylinders, grippers carried by the cylinders and adapted to conveythe labels from the feeder-bar to the point at which it is to beapplied, and means for applying an adhesive to the label during itspassage to the point of application.

8. In a label-attaching machine, a plurality of conveying-cylinders,grippers thereon,

engagement with the labels, an adhesive-reservoir, a mainadhesive-roller arranged therein, an intermediate roller mounted tovibrate between the main adhesive-roller and the surface of the label,and a cam for controlling the movement of the intermediate roller.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CARL OTTING.

Witnesses:

A. B. DRAUTZ, R. BREoH'r.

IIO

